‘Imperfect self-defense’ rolled out in Oak Brook murder trial
Jerry Hudson doesn’t deny killing his ex-wife outside an Oak Brook hotel, but it was a case of “imperfect self-defense,” his attorney said Wednesday as Hudson’s murder trial opened in DuPage County.
Prosecutors say the Bolingbrook man pumped at least six rounds into Melissa Bridgewater’s vehicle on New Year’s Day 2010, striking her twice in the left temple and three times in the back. The sixth bullet left a graze wound.
In opening statements Wednesday, defense attorney John Lyke Jr. said jurors will hear Hudson testify how he shot Bridgewater after she told him, “I got something for you,” and reached for her center console.
He said the key to the case is to understand “what’s going on in Jerry Hudson’s mind” at the time of the killing.
“This is a case of self-defense, imperfect self-defense,” Lyke said. “This is not a case of whodunit; it’s a case of why he did it.”
Bridgewater, 45, was gunned down about 6:30 a.m. Jan. 1, 2010, as the Bolingbrook woman left the Doubletree Hotel on Spring Road in Oak Brook after a night of dinner and step dancing with her new boyfriend.
Prosecutor Mary Cronin said Hudson had repeatedly called Bridgewater earlier that morning, and the victim asked a security guard walk her to her car.
As Bridgewater backed out of a parking space, Hudson crashed into her vehicle with a rental car. That’s when prosecutors say he got out and repeatedly fired through the victim’s driver’s side window.
After the killing, Hudson fled on I-88 and made no contact with police until he surrendered on murder charges several days later. By then, authorities had located a note left behind for Hudson’s family: “Melissa has taken my manhood, so I’m taking her with me,” according to Cronin.
“If for some reason you find Melissa stole his manhood, then it was a petty theft — and not one warranting six bullet holes,” Cronin told jurors.
The couple married in the late 1990s and divorced in 2006, according to testimony. Despite the falling out, Lyke said, they continued to date for years.
The morning of the killing, it was too dark for Hudson to see into Bridgewater’s vehicle, Lyke said, adding the victim once told Hudson she had a gun and was “not afraid to use it.”
“When she reached for that console, that’s when he fired,” Lyke said. “Not one eyewitness is going to tell you he fired that gun, except him.”
The trial resumes Thursday in front of Judge Daniel Guerin.